Student Work Camps to Draw Nearly 5,000
The Ministry of Education has put up 120,000 euros, allowing some 4,800 Estonian teens to work in summer camps.
Sharing a name with a traditional Estonian military formation, malev, the youth work camp tradition is more akin to a civilian conservation corps and started in the late 1960s in Soviet Estonia. It has been seeing a revival in the last 10 years, without the political indoctrination aspect.
This year there will be 196 malev groups run by 41 different camp organizers, with participants aged around 15-18. State funding is 17 percent higher than last year, Õhtuleht daily reported.
The biggest camp organizers are Pärnu County Õpilasmalev and Õpilasmalev, each with over 700 participants. The Maardu city government, Põlva County, Rae municipality and Rakvere city are also notable for active malevs.